My wife and son bought an 87 Dakota that is carbureted. It is an auto with 172,000 miles. I did not drive it before they bought it but did hear it run. It idles pretty smooth but runs like puke[:'(]. I pulled the plugs out and they look good and I replaced the distributor cap and rotor. It acts like the timimg is off. It has no power and if you try to rush it, it will backfire thru the carburetor. Can you set and adjust the timing on these with a timing light just like the older vehicles? I don't want to throw a bunch of parts at it without knowing for sure what is wrong. The EGR light is on also. They bought it from a 97 year old man who drove it like a 97 year old man. We ran some seafoam thru the carb while running the engine and sprayed carb cleaner in, on and around the carb. Nothing seemed to help. I am inclined to check the timing if it is indicated. Any ideas of what might be wrong would be appreciated. I would not have bought the truck if that tells you how bad it runs[:'(][:'(][:'(][:'(]

 

yes you can set them however I would take a deeper look into the distributor.the hall effect pick up coil is there and a metal ring(pulse ring) that tends to get loose over time if this is the case you can try from now till the end of time toset the timingand you won't get it right. fortunately if it is bad,a new disty is about $100 at your local parts store. they will most likely have to order it but its a great investment since it comes with a brand new pick up coil as well...then you just replace the old one and since there is only 2 ways to put a disty in an 87 dak you cant go too wrong.the unfortunate part is that to check this you have to pull the dist out...it's not that tough and well worth the time...

 

Another thing to check is the oil pump drive gear. It is the gear below the distributor that stays in the motor when you take the distributor out. If the gear is worn bad enough that can screw up your timing a lot. My 92, old 3.9L magnum,had the same problem as yours and I threw parts at it because no one could think of what to fix. The part should be Melling # IS72. Most stores should be able to get it within a few days. I knowthat O'reilly Auto Parts is usually better priced on parts than the other places.

 

your motor is probly carboned up bad, I would do the distributor and take your carb off and get it rebuilt.

 

How do I determine if this gear is bad? Will the distributor shaft have a lot of slop in it?

 

i'm having the same problem with my 87 dakota.It acts like it's not running on all cylclenders.I have a new distributor onmine tho.But after my truck warms up it dies and won't start till it cools down.

 

Pull your EGR off and clean the hell out of it with some brake clean. Also clean as much of the hose leading up to it as possible. A stuck or slowly operating EGR valve could have all of the symptoms that you are describing. Just a thought.

 

checkn ur coil